Here we are in deepest
September, and it’s time for another edition of Avril’s newsletter. Now,
this is not meant to rub it in if you visited Avril during what was meant to
be the Summer and you got rather badly rained on, but I have to report that
the weather has been very good this last week. One day of rain, one day
with a very chilly wind; that’s all the minuses wrapped up. The rest of the
time, it’s been glorious sunny days, making this part of the world, and its
surroundings, a very pleasant place to be. Whilst occasional rumours of
good weather ahead, from sources such as the television have kept the
outlook buoyant, the really pertinent conclusion was all about potatoes. On
one of several Bonnie-walking expeditions that I have been part of this
week, Avril announced that the weather would be good, because the farmers
were in no hurry to harvest their potato crop. Had there been promise of
heavy rain, then they’d have been harvesting non-stop. Avril was bang on
the nail – the weather has remained as good as could be wished for.

There
has been a good mix of guests this week. A group of gents whose
last-evening conversation was punctuated by two important questions. With
regard to their bill the following morning, did anyone know how many ‘pints’
they’d had? (To which the answer was ‘no’). The follow-up was whether
anyone knew how much 300 gallons of Leffe cost.

Tony,
visiting for the first time, stopped in on the way up through France before
returning to the UK. He was able to show us what we all agreed was a most
moving French memorial to the Great War dead. Instead of the usual poilu,
this had an aging woman sitting, grieving, over a corpse at the base of the
list of names on the memorial. It really was something that took the breath
away. If I recall correctly, it was at a place called Domme in the Dordogne
region.

Later
on in the afternoon he and I had one of those good, involved chats in the
lounge about the Great War, that are so easily entered into in these
surroundings. I, like everyone else, have my own opinions about this and
that concerning the GW, and so by the time we’d finished, he had certainly
begun to see certain things from a different angle! He may well choose to
disregard everything I said. Well, that doesn’t matter, at least he’ll be
aware of a different viewpoint.

Digressing slightly, this reminds me of one of the best Saturday nights I’ve
ever spent, from around four years ago. While sitting in the lounge after
one of Avril’s dinners, one member of the group stood up and spoke on the
premise of 1st July 1916 being a success, and the other four or
five of us spent the time asking him the most awkward questions for him to
try and answer positively.

Back
to this week, and the undoubted winner of the ‘Staging a dramatic entrance’
award goes without question to Rose, a lady that works in Auckland Museum.
Spending a few days in the area, seeing what local museums had to offer, and
paying respects to various NZ servicemen, Rose turned up one night at
11.30pm escorted by no less than three gendarmes! The poor lady, who is in
the middle of one of those DIY tours, fixing transport and lodgings as she
goes along, had got completely lost in Albert. As we learnt soon after,
she’d actually got lost before that, else she’d not have been in Albert in
the first place. Now, I can sympathise with anyone getting lost in Albert;
although it’s not the biggest town by a long chalk, it does seem very
confusing at times. Like Arras, it’s a case of driving in more or less a
consistent direction until you come across something you recognise.
Admittedly, where I am concerned, in Arras it’s a case of continuing driving
until I end up in the Railway Station car park, which is usually where I
arrive in due course.

Rose
I am sure, enjoyed the days spent hereabouts, and she saw virtually all she
wanted. I think there was just one grave she missed, so I said I’d get that
one for her and send it on the internet. That is one of the joys of the
internet – being able to send photos so easily, and what might have been a
regret is now ironed out without a problem.

One
night, we were joined by a young couple from Newfoundland, who had
apparently stayed for just one night, seven years ago. When asked how long
they were staying this time, they smiled sheepishly and said ‘One night!’
They remarked how they were looking forward to a possible two-night stay in
2014! It’s strange how things work – we already had Rose staying with us,
who worked in some capacity at a big museum, and here, Kate, the wife of the
Newfoundland couple also turned out to have a job concerned with the
presentation in museums and visitor centres! All quite topical as you will
see…

For
the last couple of nights, we have had the company of a group on a Toc H
tour.

They
were, for lack of a better word, in the majority, aged. But what a feisty
lot! For a start, Avril was able to delegate the dog-walking to someone
else (phew!). And when the invite was made to go to the lounge to watch the
rugby, they packed the isles. I really felt sorry for the Welsh team.
There they were beating the Japanese team by fifty points, while Joe (oldest
member of the group at 89 years old, and a rugby fanatic) didn’t stop
criticizing them for a moment! Most remarks included ‘they make too many
mistakes’ ‘Barry John’ and ‘Gareth Edwards’. Ouch! It’s never easy being
compared to deities.

Bonnie, as you have probably gathered, is going from strength to strength.
Taking her for a walk is a case of hanging on for dear life until you get to
the Old Beaumont Road, and then releasing ‘The Black Rocket’. Off she
blasts, down the lane, across the fields, belting along in a straight
gallop, or twisting and turning, leaping up and down – a joy to behold.
And, even Avril admits, the more she runs, the less she should pull when
it’s time to put the lead on again. All one can say, is that no one can
ever imagine that she’d had a broken leg, and that there is a metal plate in
said leg. She is a picture of health, giving Avril some concern this week,
until Avril realised that Bonnie was coming into season.

A
couple of the sheep have also been giving Avril some concern, mainly Libby.
Libby is Avril’s original sheep, and is nine years old. Libby became very
weak and listless, and went off her food, and the outlook was bleak. But it
turns out, she has had a cold, for which one can do nothing but see if she
gets over it. Thankfully she has, and as Avril was told, ‘is she dead?
No? Well, she’s all right then!’

Larry
is in just unbelievable condition. You really have to look closely to see
which of the sheep has a slightly unorthodox front right leg. Otherwise it
would be very difficult to pick him out, health-wise, from any of the
others. He uses his bad leg just as he ought to, even leaping about on it;
though I have to take Avril’s word for that, as when I went to take a photo
of him, he had his face down, eating grass like there was no tomorrow. Both
he and Bonnie are testament to what Avril’s TLC can do.

The
incubator chicks are doing well. As far as I know, at least three pictured
in the last newsletter are still progressing, if not all of them. They have
been joined by a fifth chick. Apparently there were six at one time, but
one was lost. Here, after much patience, is a photo of them with the mother
hen.

The
cat population has grown by one. We still have ‘Jasper’, ‘Kitty’, ‘Titch’,
‘Midge’, ‘Stitch’ and ‘Crappit’. Now they have been joined, for just over a
week by a young male, who has made quite an impact with visitors, due to him
being so darned cute, with his very faded, even sandy, marmalade stripes.
In fairness, for a newcomer he seems fairly well accepted by the resident
inmates. Anyhow, he must be given a name, and this worries me. Apart from
Jasper and Midge, the cats seem to get names that range from the blindingly
obvious (Kitty) to the distinctly unsympathetic (Crappit). Anyhow, I have
worried unnecessarily, as Avril has decided upon ‘Frankie’, and that seems
quite satisfactory.

The
really big news of the week concerns the Wall of Remembrance. You may
recall that news of this appeared alongside the newsletter some months
back. In the meantime, Avril has had a very busy, yet rewarding Summer; all
too often, this has meant that she has had to use her time in the day-to-day
running of her business, rather than being able to devote herself to her
ongoing projects. However, over the last few weeks, certain things have
been clarified, and the prospects at the moment are more promising than they
have been.

A lot
of work will now be put in, organising the many different departments of the
project. When Avril is happy that things are in place, a new dedicated
website will appear on the internet, entitled ‘Ocean Villas Wall of
Remembrance’. All being well, if you ‘google’ those words when the website
is up and running, you will be taken straight there. Naturally, there
should also be a link from Avril’s usual websites.

As
for the plaques themselves, Avril has fixed the price at £50 each. She is
awaiting the prototype back from the mason, and on satisfaction, a photo
will be taken and put on the website so everyone will be able to see exactly
what the plaques will look like.

I
previously mentioned that it was coincidental that we had the company of two
ladies that work in museums this week. This is because during the last week
or so, Avril has been able to get the initial finances sorted to enable her
to buy Andre Coilliot’s collection. This now means that the Wall will have
time to establish itself before taking over the financial strain of taking
care of the running costs for itself, the collection, and the museum.
Naturally, two ladies already involved in museums are useful contacts, when
you are looking to present a collection to the public